News Bytes

False alarm A pilot recently flew his one-engined Cessna into the restricted airspace over Washington DC and caused temporary panic in the Capitol and the White House. Just minutes after the plane popped up on the radar screens alert levels were raised to red because the pilot (a flight instructor and his trainee) failed to respond to ground control's attempt to contact him. The entire Capitol and White House were evacuated. The plane was escorted to a small airport and the pilots released from custody after several hours of interrogation. They were on their way to an air show and ignored the restricted airspace over Washington DC that had been established after 9/11. President Bush was on a bicycle tour north of Washington at the time and did not have to be evacuated.

Terminator in cross fire A little over a year after his election as governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger's popularity is decreasing. While 60% still said they were pleased with Schwarzenegger's work, he is rather unpopular among 32% of non-Republican voters (formerly 18%). Especially the Democrats, but also the press to an increasing extent, voiced rather negative opinions about the ex-movie star over the last weeks, many called him a show-off and impostor.

Last time Schwarzenegger hit the front page at the end of April when he demanded a closing of the borders and said that immigration policy was too lax. Shortly after that he demented this demand and apologized for his slip of the tongue. He didn't want the closing of the borders, but the securing of the same. He said he might have to go back to school and study a little.

NHL privatization The companies Bain Capital Partner LLC and Game Plan International offer approx. $3.5 billion for the complete NHL (National Hockey League) in the US. Currently the NHL is the first professional League in the US that has canceled an entire season. It is estimated that the losses from the last two seasons amount to $500 million.

According to the prospective buyers, that's why all teams would profit from this. The only question is whether the team owners, especially in the great markets of New York or Boston, would accept the offer.

Harsher punishments for file sharers In April, US President George W. Bush signed the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005. This will give file sharers a hard time. Under this law, US citizens who illegally distribute film or music files on the internet are facing prison sentences of up to three years or fines of up to $250,000. Especially repeat offenders should be very careful - they are facing sentences twice as high.

Divine domain One resourceful American by the name of Roger Cadenhead wanted to own the right internet address even before the new pope was announced.

He looked at all names of popes from the last three centuries and decided on Clement XV., Innocent XIV., Leo XIV., Paul VII. and Pius XIII. And last but not least he also found the name that proved to be right one: Benedict. So he bought the domain www.benedictXVI.com, among others. After Pope Benedict had been announced, the domain got up to 1,000 hits a minute. So Cadenhead decided, after a few days, to give the domain to a charity (Modest Needs) that supports low-income families in the US.

Michael Moore Scholarship US film-maker Michael Moore already announced in October 2004 that he wanted to establish a scholarship for rebellious students. This has now been for the first time to two students at state university San Marcos ($2,500). Moore said the two had fought for students' rights by defying the university administration and had thus earned the scholarship for free speech.

Simpsons on the fast lane The animated television series "The Simpsons" will soon overtake "Dallas" with the 350th episode, "Dallas" had 357. Executive producer Al Jean said that even after the 16 seasons, there was still no end in sight, a statement that made fans worldwide very happy. The longest show on American television is still "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" with 435 aired episodes.

Giant Hamburger A pub in Pennsylvania offers their customers something new - a giant hamburger that weighs a total of 14.9 pounds and has a diameter of 17 inches. The burger with the fitting name of "Beer Barre Belly Buster" costs $30. With this, pub owner Dennis Liegey wants to make it back into the Guinness Book of Records. The burger consists of 10 pounds of beef, 25 cheese slices, 3 tomatoes, 2 onions and 3 tablespoonfuls of mayonnaise.